Target Locked
by Literate
Summary: Fifth. Valentine. It's almost Valentine's Day, Hikaru thinks Kaoru is frustrated. But that's just it. Kaoru hates Valentine's. Vague pairings.
1. Pocky

First in a series of plotless one-shots.

Inspired by the idea of what the twins might do when they are older. :D No pairings in this one, but maybe later on.

Warning for the twins' regular-level "brotherly love" antics and possible suggestiveness.

Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran High, but if I just bought some pocky, then maybe I'll own pocky.

* * *

"Pocky."

After three years, seven months, and fifteen days, one would think that people would stop over obsessing about a commoner's biscuit snack.

Kaoru counts the number of days a week they go to the supermarket section of downtown and purchase "pocky" in the snack aisle.

Six.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The supermarket is closed on Sunday.

Not good.

While keeping his brother in sight, he counts the number of times they come here daily.

Three.

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

And that's not including the times the market goes out of stock and Kaoru orders them online.

"Found it, Kaoru!" the energetic Hitachiin yells to his brother, ignoring the strange looks he receives from the commoners, the ones who _don't_ come here twenty-four seven.

Kaoru notices that he'd been simply staring at the sign that said "Ice cream sold for 200 yen!" and walks towards his twin, who had a basket on his arm and taking about six boxes of pocky off the shelf. Two chocolate-flavored, two strawberry-flavored, and two vanilla-flavored.

Routine, he remembers; Hikaru always buys two of everything.

"Hikaru, done?" He nods. "Okay, we have a business meeting in about ten minutes so get in line and pay for it." He concedes with a smile.

"You like pocky, too, Kaoru. If I'm not the one buying, you'd be sneakily ordering it from our little minions."

Hit the nail on the head.

Minions is what they like to call their employees.

Kaoru sweat drops as he follows his twin to the cashier.

After living with his twin for so long, the elder twin often forgets that they are twenty-seven and that they actually hold positions in the Hitachiin family.

And still unmarried.

After graduation, they decided to keep their eccentricity to ward off (un)potential lovers. Their mother's disappointed that never found their significant other yet (they're charming and handsome, who _wouldn't_ want to marry one of them?), and the twins themselves want to keep that opportunity opened.

… If they weren't busy with hanging all over each other.

"Ne, Hikaru, may I have a bite?" Kaoru simpers with a small pout, knowing fully well that they are in the main street of the city. Hikaru smiles around the pocky stick, and the younger twin leans over and bites off the other half.

Weird looks are cast at the two seemingly incestual twins. Kaoru doesn't mind; he likes the biscuit part of the pocky more. Hikaru doesn't care, as long as he got the chocolate covered part.

How on earth a pocky being split with two very close brothers could be interpreted as an indirect kiss between two lovers is alien to both twins.

But the people's opinions don't matter because in and around the office, they are only joint-owners running the famous Hitachiin brand.

Hikaru finishes off a box of pocky (with the seductive help of his brother), as they both walk into the meeting, one minute close to the beginning time.

And like outside in the world, they don't hesitate to show open affection to each other.

Through pocky.

"Mr. Hitachiin, I've compiled a report on the latest fashion trends in all the regions of Japan. It seems that we can start with-"

Hikaru takes another piece of pocky out of the box and snaps it into perfect halves. He pokes the biscuit piece into his brother's mouth, who _was _intently watching the report presentation. Kaoru blinks, then rolls the stick around with his tongue. With a quick movement, the younger twin snatches the other piece from his brother's hand, the pocky in his mouth moving up and down.

And obviously, both twins are distracted from the presentation.

"… Mr. Hitachiin," the presenter clears his throat.

"Hai, hai. We heard you; continue," Hikaru mumbles, as Kaoru dangles the remaining piece tauntingly in front of his twin.

The man shuffles his papers again; the rest of the employees not bothering to ignore the twins' immature antics anymore and outright stare at them.

One man doesn't bother point out that they are _twenty-seven_.

But of course, no one notices that Hitachiin twins are more than people give credit for since, for the rest of the day, with some pocky-induced distractions, they actually finish reading the reports and set up the spring line for children. And in their spare time, give weekly calls to their close business partners.

They split the work entirely in half. While Hikaru calculates the profit margins and researches the average measurements of the current population (because _everyone_ whether rich or poor, larger or smaller than the norm deserves to wear their famed brand), Kaoru takes care of the fabric qualities and quantities and clothes circulating within the company. Of course, anything they don't have to do separately are done _together_.

Such as, calling close high school friends to annoy the hell out of them.

"Good morning, this is the Ootori Group Network. We have everything from hospital management, expert therapeutic care, and professional medical treatment. Of what help can I be to you today?" the happy, but droning, feminine voice comes out of speaker.

"Ohayoo, we call from the Hitachiin Corp., but we would like to speak with a certain Ootori Kyouya," Hikaru replies, as naturally as possible.

"Unfortunately-"

"There is no unfortunately," Kaoru's smooth voice continues, "We want to speak with him as soon as possible. It about the health insurance of a certain employee."

"W-Well, then. I'll put you on his line."

Hikaru takes the fourth box of vanilla-covered pocky (the third was digested when they were reading the reports) and popped one into his mouth. The younger and pocky deprived twin snaps the other half from him, and savors the vanilla taste on the biscuits, whereas Hikaru chomps through the milky flavor and licks his lips.

Several seconds passes. They are beginning to get impatient when the phone is picked up on the other line.

"Ootori Kyouya, here-"

"Okaasan! Long time no talk!" they both yell into the phone. They beam happily at the stunned silence.

"… Hikaru, Kaoru, what's the deal of calling me in the middle of calculating the yearly profits?" the familiar demonic and cold voice reprimands.

They clap happily like little children. "Kaasanya remembers us!"

Hikaru imagines that Kyouya is possibly kneading his head at the tone.

"Of course, who _doesn't_ call me every week on Monday, at two sharp?"

"Gomen ne, we just got bored. How are things?" Hikaru hums happily, while eating another pocky stick.

"Things are fine. Now, will you leave me alone, I just happen to be doing mental math right now."

"Kaasan, we're eating pocky," Kaoru randomly inserts. There is a silence where the Hitachiin twins believe that their "mother" is possibly imagining something worse.

"… Right, run off and bother Daddy. Mommy doesn't have time for your chatter."

"Aw, you _never_ have time for our 'chatter'!" they complain, and then the phone went dead.

Truthfully, after their host club disbanded because of the lost of two vital members, they still hosted regularly (separately) on campus, in the middle of school hours. On the weekends, when they (didn't) have time, they would schedule a small host club get together, for several hours at the most. Although meetings like the "old times" have dwindled since all the members graduated, the twins still take their fun out of talking to busy members every single day of the week.

Ootori Kyouya just happened to be on Monday.

Monday for Mom! Hikaru commented on the first week after graduating from school.

The elder twin places the box of pocky back on his side of the desk. The younger twin leans back in his revolving chair and stretches. Hikaru eyes the other boxes of pocky in the plastic bag on the relatively organized desk.

"Why am I thinking of a Neapolitan based line?" he blurts out suddenly.

Kaoru smiles and meets Hikaru's eyes. The tips of their indexes meet. "Are you thinking, chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry?"

"Think about it, Kaoru; the creamy chocolate with a flawless white dash, marked by strawberry stripes!" Hikaru waves his hands over his head in a childish manner. "Three colors that can go together perfectly."

"Wonderfully modern, yet crisp and traditional," Kaoru rubs his chin thoughtfully. "We can make it for young kids and sophisticated adults."

"Let's get on it!"

The day after, no one question where they got their inspiration from.

Because if the hints were enough, no one would like to know how _exactly_.

"Yum, chocolate," Kaoru leisurely licked on the stick, slowly depriving the soggy biscuit of its melt-in-the-mouth goodness.

"Kaoru, do you like vanilla or strawberry more than chocolate?" Hikaru watched, breaking small parts of the pocky off, preferring not to hassle with enjoying the taste.

"Either or, but you know it doesn't matter," the younger twin replied, giving the biscuit another lick before biting off half the uncoated stick.

"Ah, anything goes well with the biscuit," Hikaru smirked, finishing off his chocolate pocky stick at the same time.

But if the hints weren't enough, no one would be surprised if they were answered,

"Pocky."


	2. Minions

The second one-shot in Target Locked. :D

I always wondered how the twins would treat their employees with their common sense of insanity. xP (I'm also going on the fact that most of the employees are girls.)

Warning for some twincest suggestiveness (as per usual) and normal sorts of brotherly love.

Disclaimer: I dun own Ouran High, nor the twins, nor the Hitachiin company.

* * *

Employees were rather useful in the category of "being useful." They did everything and anything that their boss demanded, besides the several illogical requests that often were made. But, nothing was impossible to force people to do. Since, obviously, the Hitachiin had money and used that money well.

Especially the two devil twins.

Most of the employees had wished fervently that the two weren't going to inherit the family business, since they were _boys_ and _girls_ normally were the heirs. (But that was such an obvious excuse.) Their unified hopes were effectively decreasing as their mother found unequaled, unrivaled talent in them, and _two _heirs made better management than _one_. (Besides, the Hitachiin Head wasn't going to deal with any more kids.)

Pretty soon, those who worked in the fashion industry was just there, wasting away whenever the boss was in her essence and proudly proclaiming that her darling little _twins_ was on the rise of inheriting the business. The last straw that broke the camel's back was that they were _both_ going to be joint heads of the Hitachiin family once they finally finished art college.

No, not one.

Two.

Their last flame extinguished. The twins _together_ was much worse than a _single_ twin.

Then, they all sunk to the pits when the current head proclaimed to retire early since her son_s_ could easily take care of the business.

Sure, they were fashion trendy. Sure, they were the best with teamwork. _Sure_, they could cover every single working aspect of the company.

They all realized that after the first month.

But did they _have_ to turn their normal working hours into hell?

"Alright, to get some energy pumped into all your tired minds, we're _not_ going to give you the fabulous taste of commoner's coffee-"

The employees who are listening to the intercom heaved a great sigh. That gross fluid was forcefully fed into their mouths the week before.

"-but!" another voice continues, "We recently ordered some amazing new uniforms! _Everyone _(and there's no exceptions!) has to wear it the entire week!"

They all stare horrifically at the intercom system. _Surely_ they aren't going to wear _those_ annoying kimonos around the office for a _week_.

"_AND!_ To show support for our current unorthodox line, you _all_ have to take _one_ lap around the entire shopping square!" two loud voices blare excitedly.

Those who aren't too up to date with their latest line quickly opened up their computers and checked what they were talking about. Those who aren't sure of what _kind_ of clothes fished out a photo book stuck in the highest shelf of their office. Those who don't know how big the square was looked out the window.

Those who know all three tried not to groan aloud as the two overly hyper twins bound in through their individual office doors handing them a paper wrapped package. Those who knows how insistent the twins are immediately starts for the changing rooms.

And the lone employee (there's always one) questions their sanity and asks if they were also wearing maid-wear.

"Are you crazy?"

"Of course not."

Why, she wonders.

Because, apparently, only inferior individuals wear degrading uniforms and run around the block for no apparent reason.

The twins head the main headquarters of the company in Tokyo. So the main square's quite big, and full of people, especially during rush hour. In the morning, when they have their "morning run."

Some secretly think that the twins sets them up for humiliation.

Oh, they don't know, they don't know, both twins taunt.

"Aya-san."

The young secretary (only twenty-five years) shyly walks into the twins' conjoined offices. They're habitually sitting at their modern desk, the one that was about three meters long and room for both of them to sit in. Papers upon folders upon pieces of designs are scattered on the smooth, shiny black surface, only supported by the several silvery bars curved to do so.

"You called, Hitachiin-sama?" she asks daintily, fumbling with the frills on her maid uniform, the words stumbling awkwardly out of her mouth. Coupled with the servant like uniform, all employees have to call them Hitachiin-sama, or Master.

The one sitting on the left (the inexperienced have hard time telling them apart) places his pencil onto the side, and consequently watches the other rip a piece of sticky note off and scribble something.

"Aya, we have an errand for you to do," the one on the left starts, cocking his head (charmingly, if she must add) to look at the woman clad in her outfit. His bored eyes suddenly changed into one with an unexplained gleam that always shows up before trouble.

"Ne, Hikaru," he nudges his twin, who grunts in response, (so the one writing is Hikaru, she notes) "Add, 'get some snacks at the supermarket,' ne?"

… Supermarket? Now where is that?

… What _is _that?

The other looks up and then back down, continuing to scribble, but not before flashing a small smile. He takes the sticky note off his desk, and both Hitachiin stand up from their desks.

The synchronized actions of the twins scares the secretary, who raises her clipboard to her chest, "What- What might this errand be?"

"Errand? Just the basic," one says, she forgets who, as they corner her by the door in their famed stance. Lean in enough to make the girl blush deep red.

"Na, Aya-san; you are to go down to the first floor and ask whether the chocolate silk has come in," he points to item one on the list.

She nods; understandable errand.

"Then, you have to go up to the seventh floor and see if they're done with the strawberry line."

From the ninth floor to the first floor to the seventh floor… Confusing…

"Check up on the _others_ in the fourth, fifth, and sixth floors. See if they have the measurements for the models who's going to show the Neapolitan line next Thursday. That's all."

She sighs in deep relief. They both gave each other a look.

"Oh," they say in unison; she shivers.

"Our snack stash has dwindled to none," one waved a hand.

"And we can't _possibly_ go there ourselves, what with the work that needs to be done," the other heaves a dramatic sigh.

"So!" they almost burst her eardrums, "Get some pocky for us in the commoner's supermarket!"

Her eyes widened. "But, I don't know where- or what-"

"No excuses, Aya-san," he waved a finger in the air. "Unless you need a map, which we are happy to provide," he nods to the other, who flashes out a piece of paper and crams it in her hand.

"Two vanilla, two chocolate, and two strawberry, _onegai_," they flash her an eerily amused smile and she gulps, taking the small note paper with her.

"We expect it from you within the next half-hour. Have fun."

Twenty-nine minutes later, she returns to the sight of both twins lounging around, one of them looking off at the clock. (He wishes that she only came in two minutes later.) She holds a small plastic bag on her hands, wondering how to get their attention. Aya cleared her throat.

"Etto, I've sent the chocolate fabric up to the sixth floor and-"

"Ah, pocky!" says the one who was waiting for her, and he pounces on the shopping bag that she held. She held back a surprised "eep!" as the twin wrenched away the bag.

"Hikaru," the other looks back towards his brother, who was immediately opening the box of pocky. His eyes water at the sight, "May I have some?"

There is no hesitation. "Of course, why wouldn't I give it to you, Kaoru?" he takes one out and places it in his mouth, and then hands one to his brother, who's leaning over the large desk. He pops it into his mouth and, uncharacteristically so, the younger twin mews like a happy cat.

And the unacknowledged secretary inches slowly away from the unfolding brotherly scene.

Not until the little devils call to her again.

"Ne, Aya-san," Kaoru motions her back into the office, reclining back onto his chair, pocky between is lips. His brother unceremoniously sits onto the black surface of the desk, his attention turned to the girl donned in a maid's uniform.

(They designed it themselves, with the overexposing of the legs and the lace adorned every place there could be. Not one of their more stylish designs, but enough to get lookers that are not, _not_ the twins. They _don't_ look.)

"Get some water for us," Hikaru commands.

"Ask them to send up number eight lunch."

"I want chocolate soft serve ice cream, while you're at it."

"Vanilla for me. Oh-"

"And we want it in…" both twins turn their heads towards the smooth black clock.

"Ten minutes tops."

They flash a (relatively charismatic) grin and wave. She gulps.

"Good luck."

It's after all those unreasonable requests for the poor secretary that they then remember that there were other requests that they made of her. Kaoru finishes off his vanilla (and chocolate) ice cream and places the cup onto the otherwise flawless surface. Hikaru (long finished with his chocolate (and vanilla) ice cream) sticks another piece of pocky in his brother's mouth. They seem to ignore the poor girl for several minutes before they simultaneously ask,

"Report."

She flinches, then begins a small stammer.

"W-Well, the girls that are modeling have already arrived and they're going to send up their measurements." She nibbles her lower lip, wondering if she should tell the rest of their reply to the two twins. "But…"

Hikaru stares at her, bemused, "But…?"

"Is it something that you would keep to yourself?" Kaoru raises a brow.

"Oh-Oh, no, that's not it," she says hurriedly, hoping the twins haven't jumped to any conclusions. "They are… sensitive… see? Etto…"

"Ah!" Kaoru realizes, taking the unbitten (but soaked) pocky stick out of his mouth. The secretary jumps, but Hikaru just looks him on, as he explains bluntly, "They're girls; it's alright if they don't want to tell us the measurements for their chest."

"Soka," Hikaru waves his half-eaten chocolate stick in the air, "Tell them not to worry. We'll be down to do it in person."

Her eyes widen to no extent. Oh Kami, she just made the situation worse!

"No, I mean, that's not it!" she protested, raising her arms defensively.

"What's not it?" they echo. Aya notices with a shiver that both twins were now standing in front of her, lowering themselves to her eye level. She feels a blush coming.

"Tell them we've been doing it _all_ the time," the elder tells her, poking her nose with the pocky stick.

"Well," her cheeks tints pink, eyes searching for a solution, "I can do it instead, Hitachiin-sama."

At this, the twins stand up straight, and their eyes meet. "Good idea."

She sighs in relief.

Kaoru nods, breaking the mood, "Actually, let us accompany you down there."

"No, they wouldn't appreciate you two there!" she blurts, then covers up her mouth. Their eyes glints devilishly. She knows she said something very, _very_ bad.

"_Who_ doesn't?"

She whimpered under their plotting gaze.

They were the best at plotting out pranks, their mother said. Aya whole-heartedly agrees to that; no matter how humiliated they make the employees seem, no matter how many unreasonable requests they give, their plots do _both_. They still are, and aren't ever changing their ways, it seems.

And that was how she finds herself caught up in an argument between a hot-tempered model and both twins.

And by the looks of the twins' smirk, they are winning.

"This is your _job_, Mitsuko-san. You are to _model_ our latest line of clothes, or else we'd _refuse_ to give your pay," Hikaru drawls, a serious note in his voice.

"Mitsuko-san, of all things, you should _know_ who you're going to be _working_ for. How did you end up in the Hitachiin company _otherwise_?" Kaoru's tone is more of a lazed admonishment than a fierce snap.

The woman simply growled, "It was given to me. Apparently, my agent didn't tell me who is produces it."

"Oh," Hikaru says, unconvinced, his arm comfortably on his brother's shoulder. Kaoru picks it off, as his hand fingered something in his pockets,

"How are you not supposed to know the Hitachiin name?"

She steams, "I didn't expect the heirs to be _men_."

The twins give each other the look.

"There's no other say in it."

"We researched your background, Mitsuko-san. Your family _needs_ the money from this job. It pays more than other requests," Kaoru replies, satisfied by her look of incredulity.

"Why are you turning down this opportunity? Everyone else is practically on their knees, begging for this one-in-a-lifetime chance to work for the Hitachiin," Hikaru smirks as well.

She begins angrily, wondering how they completely misses her point, "You two-"

"-are not going to be taking your measurements," they both answer.

"We assure you; we are _not_ perverts." The way Hikaru says it so casually made a shiver creep up the girl's spine.

"In actuality, they are going to assist you with everything you need," Kaoru gestures to a small group of employees.

"… And how?" she manages to get in. "Do you suppose they will do _everything_ you tell them to?"

"Well," Kaoru places a finger on his lips, "Didn't you ever suppose-"

"-that's the reason they'd do _anything_?" Hikaru ends.

"You don't have to worry. They will do anything."

Their eyes shine as they meet the other's.

"Ne, take out _that_ outfit and have her walk through the entire floor with it on," Hikaru snaps to the employees, who immediately scuttle to the back room.

"Oh, Hikaru, _that_ outfit?" the younger twin wraps his arms around his brother, his (almost) innocent hazel eyes portraying a tint of mischief. A finger twirls a strand of an identical brown, "I thought you wouldn't let anyone _else_ wear it beside _me_."

The only woman in there shivers at his antics. Hikaru's eyes closes, mirroring his twin's expression, his arms brought around his twin's waist. "Kaoru, wasn't it a different one? This outfit I would _never_ make you put on. You're too cute to be ruined by it."

Kaoru pulls back and pinches Hikaru's cheek lightly. "Hikaru, don't scare me like that. It was only to be used on _special _occasions and _no one _is supposed to know."

"Sp-Special occasions?" They blink and turn to the source of the voice. Their identical mischievous features glimmer.

"Yes, _special_. Like now."

Right at that moment, the women piles back into the room (thankfully after the brotherly moment ended). The model's eyes widen as she spots the costume.

"I'm going to wear _that_?"

The younger twin smiles eerily as the elder flashes out a digital camera. Kaoru crosses his arms, and, containing his laughter, points to the employees, "Alright, get that on her. We have ten minutes to spare."

"Hai!"

The women (clad in maid wear) chase the unfortunate model around, and finally force her into the chicken costume, complete with yellow feathers and wings.

They both wink at their successful personnel and give them a thumbs up.

"Good job!"

Minions. They will do everything you say, whether for money, profit, or pride. They follow what their masters tell them to do, regardless of their own health. And for the few that _don't_, there's always bribery, humiliation, or threats. They are insubordinates, under the command of others, and generally _disposable_.

Because they're their minions, the employees will do anything, regardless. And that's what they like about it.


	3. Amusement

Lit 'ere with the newest installment for Target Locked, Amusement. Maybe now, there would be hints to why I named it that.

I blame Phil-kun for poisoning my "innocent" mind and forcing me to hint suggestiveness and something farther than their normal brotherly love.

Disclaimer: I may look like I can own it, but I don't. I don't own the mischevious little Hitachiins either.

* * *

There are many things that the twins have for entertainment; "toys" that spice up their boring existence. It is essential to the Hitachiins' lives. They _need_ a source of amusement to prevent them from becoming uninterested, bored, and off their parents' backs. Or anyone from that matter.

In their childhood, their ways of playing were different from other normal and obedient kids who settles quietly for building blocks and puzzles. They preferred toys that made lots of fuss, such as that lonely girl in the quiet corner of the room, or those cooks who repeatedly tried to heat up their milk precisely as they wanted (which was never). Those who were often their targets were _everyone who was not them._

In their school years, their ways of playing changed. They knew that no matter how many times they try to tick that teacher off, she never broke and will never break. Instead of actively looking for entertainment, they waited until their toy found _them_, like those young confessions with the opposite twins where they cruelly broke hearts. In other words, their middle school targets were _everyone who decided to mess with them_.

In the host club, they came to the realization that Suou Tamaki was right; they could use their "symmetrical brotherly love!" to their advantage. They fully explored the aspects of the other twin's faults and strengths, just to cover it back up with a thin veneer of replication, of reflection, of sameness. The targets for entertainment became _each other_. But they soon bored of that and poked fun at the one who gave them the idea in the first place, often sending the poor host club king flying to his corner.

For the rest of their high school years, their targets shifted to their close friends, anyone familiar to them, or anything and anyone who came into contact with them. They could mess around naturally with their friends, forever keeping the title of "devil types" in the little gossip squares, and they often found each other indulging in the relieving, yet maliciously identical, presence of their other half, when it gets too boring.

As adults, one would have to wonder how they could run an entire company _and_ provide something interesting for them to do.

But, as it is, their line of work provides ample opportunities for amusement.

"Kaoru," the elder Hitachiin whines, neglectfully nibbling on a piece of pocky. Hikaru's bored hazel eyes watches his brother, as he takes another chocolate-covered biscuit out of the box. He leans back on his revolving/reclining chair, his feet finding their very comfortable place on the black surface, dirtying the shiny veneer that the janitors work very hard to clean. "Kaoru-"

"Shh, Hikaru. I'm doing something important," Kaoru shushes him, and moves his eyes back to the wide-screen television that was on the side of the wall. He, also, has a box of pocky, though his tongue unconsciously plays with the soggy biscuit in his mouth, he's paying very close attention to-

What's so interesting on the television anyway? Hikaru thinks, eyes now moving to the screen. He looks at it in distaste and begins, "Kaoru, why are you watching the ten o' clock news?"

Kaoru rolls his eyes, "Someone has to."

"Can't the secretary do it?"

Kaoru nibbles on the biscuit, as he thought, "Nope. It's something we have to do by ourselves."

"But, I'm bored!" Hikaru complains again, pouting immaturely.

"Go work on the backlog that collected when we went out this morning," Kaoru says dismissively.

"Datte-"

"No buts," Kaoru responds sharply, still focusing on the television. "Play your DS."

Hikaru whimpers softly, but nonchalantly takes out said gaming device, clicks several buttons, and ten minutes later, places it back in a reclusive corner of his drawers. He doesn't like it when Kaoru ignores him.

"Kaoru-"

The door opens suddenly to their secretary, a timid twenty-five year old who's holding a small stack of papers. The twin that wasn't occupied with the television looks at her and gets an idea.

"Hitachiin-san-"

"Ne, _Kaoru_," Hikaru begins, with a bit of a purr, slinking over to his brother's side of the desk, "We _never_ spend any time with each other_ anymore_. Can you _play_ with me?"

Kaoru blinks at the sudden change from begging to seducing, and glances at his twin, while noting that the secretary has arrived.

"But, _Hikaru_, we're at work now," he says gently, adopting an expression akin to his brother. "What about _tonight_?"

"Oh, but that's if the dinner is postponed. Although, if you don't mind, we can give them a demonstration tonight."

Kaoru looks almost devastated, "De-Demo, in front of _all_ those people? I like it with only _you_ and _me_."

The secretary (her name is Aya, apparently) coughs once and then twice. Hikaru is miffed with her interruption, but it doesn't matter since she'll give them some fun. Kaoru gives her a half-hearted glare and looks back at the television where they are talking about certain stocks of some small companies.

"Well, these are the reports from last night. The Neapolitan line of clothing have its prototypes established and the children's line is in fabrication-"

"And?" Hikaru bites on the pocky stick. "Anything actively involving us?"

"Et-Etto," she walks over to the desk and places the reports onto the black surface, "The third floor is beginning to work on the men's line, and they're requesting that you supervise the production of it."

This makes Hikaru stop in mid-bite. "Supervise? Sure, why not?"

"Well, we're _supposed_ to supervise. News can wait," Kaoru stands abruptly from the desk, clicking the pause button on the television. Now Hikaru knows he's been paying attention to the morning report and _not_ listening to any droning news reporter going on about some famous company…

Nowadays, as heads of one of the top-competing labels of the fashion industry, the Hitachiin twins hardly ever do any hands on and stick to designing and overlooking the entire process from the drawing boards to the display in the overly rich and common public. But, both twins love it when the secretary asks them to "supervise."

"Supervise" as in, completely booting the person off the sewing machine and taking the entire situation into their own hands. And the employees (for some very strange reason) always hope to think that they would "supervise" properly.

"I'm a happy camper," Kaoru sighs delightedly, taking the fabric and smoothing it out in his hands. The chocolate satin ripples as he lays it onto a large table. He takes one look at the design posted on the wall, draws a finger down the sheet of paper, and sets out to cut the fabric.

Hikaru, on the other hand, stomps into another room (very loudly), "Done with all ten articles yet?"

"Hi-Hitachiin-san," the woman answers, jerking in her seat and pauses the sewing machine.

The elder twin looks over her current work with a sour look, scolding her, "So that's the reason we were called in to supervise."

She tries to stutter out an excuse before he pushes her off her seat and sits down in it with a _'plop'_. He picks at the (pretty) neat threads, while glancing at the current design. He readjusts the white silk fabric on the sewing machine and twists some knobs on the machine. "Hitachiin-san?"

"You're supposed to be _watching_, Yumi-san," he reminds sarcastically, turning the machine on and the threads pound into the fabric.

"H-Hai," she scrambles closer to get in view of the expert fingers that effortlessly amend her mistakes and go even farther to finish up the piece. How does he _do_ that when she was having trouble to do it herself?

Then he pauses, frowns at a certain fray in the cloth, and smoothes it off. Despite some grumble of "This is boring," he got most of the articles finished and was starting on the ninth one when-

There comes a muffled cry and a clatter of scissors meeting the tiled floor.

Hikaru immediately stops the machine, screwing up the flawless threading he had done. Fingers unconsciously caressing a spot near his palm, he stands up and kicks the chair back into the desk to the shocked look of the young employee.

"Kaoru?" he calls, a slight pain pulsing in his hand. He runs out of the room to be greeted with the sight of a certain Hitachiin trying to pick up the scissors and the retreating figures of several of the employees. They are… carrying away a piece of vanilla fabric. (And are the going in the direction of the trash dump?)

"Ne, Hikaru," Kaoru remarks coolly, "Call them to bring up another bolt of vanilla silk. I… accidentally dropped it on the floor."

Hikaru's eyes stray to the hand that wasn't holding the pair of scissors. And it's hanging quite limply. (It also happens to be the left hand; Hikaru feels throbbing in his own.) And-and-

His eyes widen.

"Kaoru, is that _blood?!_" Hikaru almost screams and grabs a hold of his twin's wrist, noticing from the subtle wince that he's possibly making it worse. Indeed, the several drops of blood falls from the tips of his fingers.

"Oh, well… I'm fine, Hikaru," Kaoru tries to sooth this panicking twin. Hikaru raises the injured hand up, seeing that there's a small cut in the middle of his palm. And, (he notices with a slight flinch) that's also where he's feeling the pain too.

"Kaoru, tell me these things sooner, okay?" The elder twin sighs and takes a small piece of cloth and begins to wipe up the spilt crimson. He shudders at the sight; there isn't many times when the twins had shed blood. He takes a small bandage (handed by one of the employees looking on) and places it gently on his palm.

"Funny place to get accidentally cut, Kaoru," Hikaru murmurs, a bit of humor crawling into his sentence. He lays a small kiss onto the wound and gives Kaoru a reassuring smile.

"I don't choose where I want to be cut, Hikaru," Kaoru smirks, "At least you didn't hyperventilate and call the hospital this time."

"Nice try. Nice try."

There's some little happy-fluffy moment between the two that makes most of the employees who were watching say "Aw…"

They see for the first time that their "forbidden" love also has a bit of brotherly care in the mix. They don't think it's odd though, mostly because the twins don't normally act incestuous when they're being serious. Their employees normally aren't there when they don't act homosexual (mostly because, some people hypothesize, they're just putting on an act and _love_ it when they respond.)

And one of those times where their employees don't see their "non-homo" moments is at the business dinner, something elaborate that's hosted by some other kind of fashion designer from some foreign place. (Hikaru and Kaoru never bothers with the tiny details.) Of course, they always invites competitors into the mix.

Also known as, the infamous, brilliant, and cunning Hitachiin twins.

Infamous they are, yes. Many business people believe that young men (twenty-seven actually) should already be _engaged_ to some other important young woman before they lose their opportunity. (Hikaru rolls his eyes at this. Old people, he thinks.) But all old business people think that you can't marry once you've passed thirty years old. All they think about are heirs, heirs, heirs.

Even, Mrs. Hitachiin, their _mother_ seem to be in with the other business partners, who are dead set on getting at least _one_ of them married.

Apparently, as Kaoru bluntly and craftily points out, she wants to become a grandmother. (Hikaru snickers at the idea. And almost begins a rant about "Grandma Yuzuha!") The Hitachiin twins decide that keeping their opinion neutral about marrying anyone -or any_thing_ (as Hikaru loves to mention his pillow is the softest thing in the world)- is possibly the best way to go.

As unnaturally as it seems to most of the outside (who is, by now quite used to their brotherly love antics), there is no indication that the twins are _together-together_, homosexual with each other, or being closer than extremely close twin brothers in that entire peaceful business dinner.

Is it that they're getting anxious about that too? Some potential candidates are whispered to strike when they've let their guard down.

… Not really so, as both twins finally are given center spotlight. Both are sporting their latest designs (which their mother had approved of), the Neapolitan line, _chocolate_-design. The elder (they can tell he's the elder because of a name-tag he has on his breast pocket) is clad in a soft dark chocolate dress shirt, two parallel vertical lines running straight down the left side of the fabric, one vanilla colored, the other a pale strawberry. The younger is wearing a dress shirt _almost identical but not quite identical_, as his chocolate is of a slightly lighter tint and his stripes run down the right side of his shirt, almost completely mirroring his twin's. And the rest, as they have expected from the twins, are entirely the same; dark brown pants (strips run down the same side), their belts angled in opposite directions (with a silvery chain on the same side).

And their ties? Deep brown, with a creamy texture to it. And people are idiots if they don't notice a small insignia in the corner of it. The Hitachiin's current favorite mark: two petite strawberries overlapping one another.

"Hikaru, Kaoru, this is Sayuri-chan," their mother introduces the young woman who's startled at their almost identical appearances. They glance at her indifferently, then look at their mother quietly begging, _'Do you really have to?'_

"Hello," she stutters unnaturally, and then is elbowed by someone else behind her, "I'm the second daughter of the Nakamaru family. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

Then the twins glance at each other; how many times have they told their mother that it wouldn't work if she introduces prospective lovers to _both _of them at once?

Well, anyone who couldn't decide who she likes more doesn't like either. Simple. As. That.

"Gomen ne, Sayuri-san," they chorus, and seeing her flinch flashes a light bulb in their heads. Kaoru knows that they just _like_ acting as if they have a toy in front of them and found a way to play. Like twin kittens who found a ball of yarn. The elder knows just as well and is the one who "bats a piece of thread" first, "You're our friend, right?"

She nods, wondering how childish they really act as compared to what her parents told her about.

"And good friends have fun with each other," Kaoru pipes up cheerily, as Hikaru slings an arm around his shoulder.

"Then let's play a game!" they say together, bathing in the awkwardness that they received. They've gotten so many different looks before; it only fuels their desire for amusement. Kaoru thinks, they _have_ been good enough so far.

Sayuri doesn't falter under their calculating gaze but shivers at the fact that everyone's just suddenly looking at her and the twins. She hears constantly from her co-partners that she should be able to know how to tell them apart since that's one of the only things that the targets are asked.

Which one is Hikaru-kun? Game usually are supposed to follow this statement up. She knows, and can tell. Sharp-eyed observers are crucial to nowadays' businesses.

Kaoru's tie is just that much crooked to the side; Hikaru has a habit of leaning against his twin more often than not. And it is often the elder one who starts up conversations. Kaoru's voice is just more smoother, his hair parts to the right. Hikaru's actions are just a bit more pronounced, his hair parts to the left.

Despite the fact that they're living breathing reflections of each other, it doesn't stop the girl from feeling confident that she'd win whatever game they have in store of her.

"Sayuri-san, what do you like about us?" they chirp happily.

She's left with a doomed like feeling.

That… it never occurred to her that she neither liked nor loathed the twins' antics.

"Aa, and we thought that you would be _different_," Hikaru complains, promptly placing a hand on her shoulder. Kaoru walks around and does the same.

"Sense of fabulous style? Our wealth? Our charm?" Kaoru ticks off his fingers, as he counts.

She's slightly flabbergasted. For the second born, Kaoru knows how to completely strike down at her reason.

"Or," Hikaru drawls heavily.

"It's that we're both attractively handsome _and_ we're twins!" And with that, they skip away like happy little school girls that was requited their undying crush on someone.

Only, _they_ crushed _her_.

The twins tend to do that a lot: lead their toy around with a fishing hook and bait and wait just until the second the wary target comes up and snaps/pokes at it to simply tug it away. The Hitachiin twins know how to play hard to get, even in love.

Maybe they _had_ opened up because of their high school years and are willing to talk animatedly to everyone else. But… because of a certain _incident_ they were unwilling to discuss in the public, they decided to be more careful to where they threw their love. So they made fun whenever possible and wherever possible _because_ they weren't ever going to be serious about that.

They hung out near the refreshments table, occasionally tripping young and vulnerable men so that they would fall conveniently into a pile of snacks, all the while looking perfectly innocent.

Hikaru fingers the box of pocky that was in his pocket, biting his lip so that he doesn't open up the box and claims the vanilla biscuit into his dry lips. It's in the business public, he reminds himself, don't make succumb to the power of pocky. Kaoru gives him an odd look and returns to watching the strawberry cake with its delicious (but only he can dream) melt in the mouth goodness that is strawberry icing. Or is that frosting, he will never know.

The elder twin laughs to himself as he spots one of the "young men" giving him an accusing glare to which he could only shrug and call, "It wasn't _my _fault I decided to stretch my sore legs."

And then he blinks in surprise as a very familiar face comes upon him; he remembers seeing in repeatedly on those news channels that Kaoru was watching earlier that morning.

"Hitachiin-san, I have heard of your recent successes and only wish to congratulate you both for your young knowledge," he bows in greeting and presents a firm hand. Hikaru stares at it questionably. (Kaoru is still watching the strawberry cake intently.)

"The same goes to you…" he cocks his head, racking his brain. Who is this person?

"Sonogaki-san runs a fashion company alike our own, but focuses more on the rich tastes of the wealthy. The Sono company goes international in more than five countries including the United States, France, and the Republic of China. Because of it's deteriorating unpopularity…"

Wordlessly, he looks to where this long sentence came from. He sees his mirror reflection giving him a peace sign, "Kaoru…"

"Heard it this morning," he shrugs, then looked at the man who was equally surprised, "You're beginning to sell stocks of your company, are you not?"

Oh, so that's what was blaring on the television and captured his twin's attention this morning…

"Sono? I've heard of your company. Your only daughter, Misaki-san, frequently sends business letters to us, regarding the state of her family company," Hikaru begins to smirk along this line, "She's slightly hurting in her comments and her criticism is duly noted, but as her father do tell her to restrain the flames of rivalry."

The man looks taken aback at his cheerful note. This time Kaoru raises a brow.

"Misaki-san resorts to blackmail? How low can she get? I do believe she has stalked us from time to time and notes our rather interesting relationship," Kaoru continues, looking at his twin, "It's rather amusing to see how she places pictures of us supposedly _kissing_ on her personal website. We were only sharing snacks."

" 'So stop _stealing_ my ideas or else I'll tell _the world_ about your illegal incestuous relationship!' " Hikaru air-quotes, speaking in an abnormally high-pitched voice, not bothering to hide a charming yet faintly amused smile. " 'You don't know how high my family's company is! I'll expose you both!' "

Sonogaki-san pales considerably at their (outrageous) behavior.

"Considering that your business is currently dropping lower and lower with the absence of production and in the light of our current successes…" Kaoru looks over to the man, who never said anything up to this point. "I think we can spare some time to compromise with you; what do you say?"

"Compromise? You two want to make a deal? Sign a contract?" Do you two even _do_ these things? He subconsciously wonders.

Both twins take a pose of intent thinking, both popping open their eyes at the exact same time. Hikaru holds out three fingers, stating decisively,

"Three hundred."

"Not one hundred," Kaoru amends, demandingly.

"Three hundred shares of your company," the elder dropped his 'W' sign and eyes the man. He's about to protest.

But they _already _owned ten percent of the Sono label…

"We're going to triple our stocks; making that thirty-percent," Kaoru crosses his arms defiantly. "In reciprocation, we'll be happy to lend you some starting value as long as you get two times the profit off the loan at least, and rake in enough or we'll be forced to sell the stocks."

"We want full participation in every one of your business meetings and have the independence to do give constructive criticism on how to improve your products."

"Well, thirty percent-"

"Any questions?" they snap.

"Well," he attempts to start again, slightly more hesitant this time. Here he is, the forty-year-old old-timer getting bossed around by some young "business" partners. "I understand the value… but, what else are you willing to ask us for?"

They blink; that isn't the first time someone asked them for more. Do they expect some kind of secret treatment that the twins have some unspoken request that they are sure that they have to deal with (even if it was unspoken)?

"There's one thing," Hikaru says thoughtfully, "Tell that little brat of a girl to stay the heck away from us and that the world can live much peacefully without her sending hate mail to everyone she knows-"

"-just because they happen to be competitive rivals and coincidentally come up with ideas that are far more brilliant than hers," Kaoru linked his hands behind his head, "I mean really, a rich selfish fifteen-year-old like _her_ can be so troublesome to her seniors."

Sonogaki only wishes he could say "What about you?" but instead resigns himself to ask, "So… when is this deal finalized?"

"You give it to us by tomorrow morning."

His jaw drops. "That soon?"

They exchange identical looks of amusement as they look upon their business associate's horrified look.

"We want to see how desperate you are."

"And how much you remember," Kaoru adds, waving a pinky in the air.

"Ne, Kaoru," the elder Hitachiin begins, leading his twin away from the refreshment table, leaving the man in a depressing state, "Do you really think he's that desperate for such a opportune deal like that?"

"Nah, not a bit. Really, even if he did finish it by tomorrow morning… I wouldn't give it back," he giggles, placing his arm around his brother's shoulders. "Imagine - 'and our fifteen-year-old heir will refrain from blackmailing the stockholders' assumed sexuality even if she might have visual proof of it in the middle of the walkway.' "

They burst out into fits of laughter, drawing strange looks from other men and women who were cheerfully discussing how their companies would benefit the other's.

"I'd pay anything to have that framed and displayed in the lobby!" Hikaru chortles and almost bumps into another person. A middle-aged woman who is about to lecture him on his manners and etiquette, when Hikaru sees that her fashion sense is…

Horrible.

After an "I apologize, and I really don't like your dress," Kaoru steps in with a "If you will, come tomorrow to the Hitachiin company, request for us and we will find something for your…"

"Unrivaled beauty," they end, trying not to break out into laughter again. The relatively old lady isn't really an eyeful, but unrivaled definitely suits her beauty. Violet looks good on her, they think. Hikaru mulls over the possibility of bringing out the frilly lavender dress that he usually forces Kaoru to wear in their punishment games, then thinks better of it. They did have a costume with something big and purple.

They leave her behind and share a small laughing fest in the men's resting room, while completely ignoring that they are together in the same stall. (If the rich and wealthy were curious enough, they will throw away their shreds of dignity and peek under the door. When they smooth out their composure and switch their ties and pins around, Kaoru tilts his belt the other way and hands his shirt over to his brother, who takes it happily enough.

It doesn't matter if they switched their identity for a while. Whether they wanted someone who could tell the difference or not doesn't apply to them anymore; eventually, after they got to know their individual personalities well, they could tell them apart.

So, Kaoru muses, why are they doing it anyway?

He looks up abruptly from buttoning up the darker chocolate dress shirt (which was on him) and finds Hikaru's identical hazel eyes on him, as he finishes up with his own lighter shirt. They both glance at the mirror, and comb their tame hair in the opposite way. A wry smile comes across Kaoru's features as he looks like his normal self.

"Just for amusement?" Hikaru inquires curiously. Kaoru doesn't hesitate to nod. They break out into twin smirks.

"Just for amusement."


	4. Garden

Gomenyo. D: It took forever to write this. I was working on other projects. My attempt at writing Twin fluff. D: Hard. My sister says it's not even fluff. But n-eways, enjoy. It'll get more romance based after this...

Warnings? Some little suggestiveness. Little. Sorta. And well, swearing.

And the twins don't belong to me! D: That sucks, really.

* * *

It's a common fact: if you are filthy rich, you show it.

In the Hitachiin's case, their estate definitely shows it.

The western mansion is of pure elegance, designed by one of the top architects in the world, made from the finest materials in all of Japan. Three floors of ornate doors and flawless windows, decorated hallways, furnished rooms of many themes. Three small tea gardens and a large sanctuary of flora endows the a impression of peace outside the mansion. There's an aroma of serenity and sincerity in the air, wafting with the scent of homeliness to its occupants.

Of course, all these and the grassy lawns are taken care of by a full legion of twenty servants, hired by the very lax owner to keep it all in check.

The Hitachiin Estate (Number One) is currently owned by Hitachiin Yuzuha, who's bathing in the blessed sunlight of an early retirement. As head of the family, she orders everyone and anyone who's in her home.

Incidentally, up until their twentieth birthday, Hitachiin Hikaru and Kaoru lived there. Since they were young, they occupied the second room on the western corridor on the second floor and spent their childhood days exploring the excessively large mansion and wreaking havoc onto the well-arranged gardens.

No one knew exactly when it happened but it happened.

As you can see, the Hitachiin twins… don't live there anymore.

If anyone asks either one to recount the tale, they pass it off as "too boring" or "Oh, did you see Kaoru anywhere?"

But if they don't live at their Hitachiin Estate (Number One), where do they live?

"Well-" Hikaru starts, going into a thinking pose..

"-it doesn't have a name yet-" Kaoru taps his chin thoughtfully.

"-but okaasan likes to refer to it as-"

"-Hitachiin Estate (Number Two)!" They flash a happy grin, Hikaru's arm habitually falling onto Kaoru's shoulders.

And they ask again: "What is Hitachiin Estate (Number Two)?"

They stop laughing and give them a serious gaze, before replying in sync,

"It's ours."

And technically, it was.

Located in the midst of a piece of land with the absence of people. Under the ownership of the twin Hitachiins for only five years, only recently have they decided to begin arranging everything.

During those five years, only _one _of the twins actually cared about how it looked.

Three guesses to who it is.

"Ne, Kaoru, don't you think we should start working on renovating this place?" Hikaru drawls (absolutely uninterested) in the pancakes in front of him. He looks over at his twin, who's quietly sitting right next to him, drawing little circles into the table.

The old, mahogany table that the twins hate because it's so old and _ancient_. Even the porcelain was obviously old.

"…" It doesn't seem like he heard him. Kaoru blinks once, and glances at the bored expression on an identical face, "Not really."

"Datte! It's so _old_ and _boring_! Why do you like it?" Hikaru complains, shooting accusing glares at his brother, "You can't be my twin."

"I didn't say anything. I don't really care," Kaoru taps the tabletop with his fingers, staring distantly at the peeling walls. Hikaru fumes. Kaoru takes his concentration off the old-styled wallpaper and blinks at his brother, "_You_ can't be _my _twin. I mean, are the Hitachiin brothers supposed to _like_ interior designing?"

"Kaoru," he pinches his twin's cheek, a comical expression of anger apparent.

"Fine, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he replies, not really sorry, "Now let go of me."

Hikaru sighs and stabs a fork into his breakfast. He feels ignored.

"Ano ne, Hikaru."

"What?" he asks around a bite of pancake.

Kaoru thinks for a while before stating, "If you _really_ want to design the interior of the mansion, go ahead."

"Alright!"

"By yourself," he adds bluntly.

"What?! What about you?" The elder twin glares at the calm half.

Kaoru raises his fork thoughtfully, "I'll handle the exterior designing."

"WHAT?!"

"You know, perfect split of the work."

Kaoru punctuates it with a smile.

It isn't the first time they didn't do something together.

This is the exact thought that Hikaru was thinking as he scans pages and pages of pieces of "antique furniture." Dropping that completely, he swivels his chair towards his very new computer (bought only several days ago, actually- he has a habit of changing computers every two months), and presses onto the internet browser.

After more clicks, he scrolls down the lists and lists of modern tableware and simple yet sophisticated cups. Due to their fortune, he has a very big budget to spend on renovating this… Hitachiin Estate Number Two. Only, without Kaoru, he's at a lost of what to do.

They are _sharing_ the ownership of the estate, co-owning, co-living, living together, etc, etc. And since the twins have the same tastes in décor _anyway_, why is Hikaru even "at a lost of what to do?"

"Problem?" comes the smooth voice of his brother, who's working next to him, currently leaning on the back of his swivel chair, waiting for his plans and order forms to print out. Hikaru sports a glare opposed to Kaoru's carefree smile.

"Please, Kaoru! I'm dying without your help!" he whines, his head meeting the hard old wooden desktop. Kaoru only smiles slyly.

"What's your problem then?"

"Well…" the elder wants to and yet doesn't want to tell him anything.

"Don't know what theme to put it as?" Kaoru's eyes lidded, a suave smile on his face. Hikaru nods furiously. Kaoru taps his cheek with a finger, "Want me to give you ideas… or tell you which one to choose?"

That set Hikaru on a ramble, "I was thinking of each room a lively color, each corridor and floor having some sort of pastal-ish color, or, we could do the neutrals and put black, brown, whites, and grays, and maybe some olives… And then, maybe we can have some western styled, or Japanese-styled rooms! What about China?! And then, we can also have the commoner's sort, like Haruhi's apartment. Does she even live in an apartment anymore? Yeah, we can have themed and colored rooms or something! But then, I'm thinking the entire house could be a mess with all those… things…"

"Do whatever," Kaoru dismisses the thought, shuffling through the papers, "It doesn't matter. Just don't put pink in our room."

Fwoosh.

"Oh," Kaoru moves his eyes to the door, "I'm going to get started, I need some certain people to call."

Slam.

'_You're not going to help?!'_

Gloom clouds' settling on stoned Hikaru. He debates whether to shakes his fist at him, or grab him to help him. He does neither as he leans back into the chair again, feeling lonely with the absence of the brother who was almost always besides him.

Actually, Kaoru's becoming more independent of himself, _so_ independent that he doesn't deserve the name of "uke" or "little brother" anymore. What he is, though, mature, professional, and a deep thinker. He's confident in himself, and now has taken to the habit of ignoring Hikaru again. Hikaru, himself, doesn't want to be ignored anymore.

And so… he develops the brilliant plan of…

"Keep Kaoru's attention!"

That is not so brilliant, now that he looks at it.

And so… whenever Kaoru ignores him, he does his own work proficiently and excellently, in order to prove "Hah, Kaoru! I can do this anyway!"

Which was probably the younger twin's intention, _anyway_.

And thus…

In times like these…

Hikaru tries to bother Kaoru as much as possible. (Because being alone was bothering him in the first place.)

"Yes, if next week Monday would be of any convenience… Yes, right away, sir. Don't worry, I'm paying for it. Yes. Yes," Kaoru rolls his eyes at the comment that came over the phone, "-of course I know how much it costs."

Hikaru peeks over Kaoru's shoulder, causing the latter's eyes to cross.

"Yeah, of course, we're stinking rich, what kind of person do you think we are?" Hikaru voices into the receiver.

Kaoru's eyes narrows, and pushes his brother off of him, waving the phone at him in the process, "Hikaru, shoo! I'm trying to have a decent conversation!"

"… _Excuse me?" _the voice says from the phone.

"Well, Kaoru! He was insulting our wealth! What else should I say?" Hikaru fired back.

"_Uh…"_

Kaoru frowned, "Look! I spent forever to get a contractor that could take on the enormity of our home! Don't ruin it!"

"_Hitachiin-san?"_

"How am _I_ ruining it? We can just offer a bunch of money, get the supplies and leave the designs to him!"

The twins are neck-to-neck in an argument, when a voice tumbles from the forgotten phone lying on the ground, _"Hitachiin-san, I think I'll take up on your offer."_

"Eh? Really?" Kaoru scoops the phone back to his ear, "Alright, next week Monday, yes, I'll have all the supplies you'll need, just email it to me."

He nods once and then twice, then he clicks the phone closed. Barely a second later Hikaru bursts out into fits out laughter.

Kaoru only tapped a pencil on his sheets of papers, checking off a box on the sheet.

The elder blinks in confusion- why wasn't Kaoru laughing either? Did Hikaru get him angry…? "Eh, Kaoru… Sorry?"

There's silence. And then, a smirk widens.

"Have you ever noticed that we sound the same over the phone? Tomihara-san…"

Oh, does that guy think Kaoru's a maniac now?

"He can't even tell us apart," Kaoru concludes, with a hard tap on his papers.

"Want to play a prank on him?" Hikaru suggests happily, practically grabbing his brother by the shoulders, his playful eyes glittering.

It only takes a second of thought.

"No, I have other things to do," -a shot- Kaoru peers at Hikaru, who had his face in his, "Shouldn't you get started on yours too?"

"Oh, right," he mutters dejectedly. Hikaru mulls, it isn't normal for Kaoru to ignore his shenanigans, much less try to get Hikaru to do his own thing.

There has been only one other time, he remembers, for just the first quarter of their second year, they joined different clubs. The actual ones he's not going to bother and screw up his head to remember. He himself had joined the… something club… just to mark a new beginning (or something), he would try to become a great older brother! And then, he suggested doing something different.

And… of course, after that two months, Hikaru quitted it because he had missed his brother too damn much. He was saddened when he found out he couldn't be involved in two clubs with the same timeframe at the same time.

And that's why he's stuck inside pointing all the idiots where he wanted a red room, a brown room, a traditional room, and Japanese-styled room, and ordered the mansion "assistants" (as Kaoru had kindly put it) around to remove all the ancient stuff and put it into the attic.

"Hikaru, you stripped the entire mansion bare," Kaoru deadpans, looking at the plain plaster wall of the lobby room. Hikaru was off in a little corner, finger and tapping the walls and jotting down more notes.

"Well, I _have_ to make it the best as possible. I don't want any wallpaper on it. We're going to apply a paint-base and then color the biggest room of the house a warm fuzzy-"

"I'm not very interested, Hikaru," Kaoru resigned, walking up the strangely creaking stairs. He stares at the concrete based stairs, "… Hikaru, are you going to fix the flooring too?"

"Mmm-hmm!" he nodded, a pencil in his mouth, as he measured something with a measuring tape.

Kaoru turns his indifferent eyes back on the blankly white halls again.

In truth, he really didn't care what Hikaru did on his spare time, nor did he care about any exact details, as long as Hikaru has something to do. Kaoru just wanted Hikaru to do something he liked to do and leave Kaoru to do what he liked to do.

Once on his bed (at least, Hikaru didn't remove their room's things), he runs over the sheets of paper he held in his hands. He has calculated, and calculated again what the entire cost of remodeling the outside would be, so he decided to be conservative (unlike Hikaru) and keep the mansion in a relatively erect state. Relatively, he might have to close down one of the older shacks in the backyard, though. He turns the pages, and pencils in some notes, poking the eraser end to the side of his lip.

"Kaoru!" a sing-songy voice bombards him as well with weight equal to his own. He's sure he's crushing his papers. He doesn't have time to tell him to get off, when Hikaru jumps onto the bed, carrying loads of dust and sand to his brother.

"Hikaru, go take a shower!" he complains reflexively, pushing Hikaru off the bed, "What have you been doing- rolling in dirt?"

"Technically, yes," Hikaru says, blatantly happy, trotting over to the shower, blissfully unaware that he's obeying Kaoru's command. "Today, we have good progress, now all I have to do is call all those house designers and tell me if I did a good job or not-"

"Just take a shower, Hikaru," Kaoru repeats, looking over the crumpled papers, and sighing. He hears a whistle and then the door slams.

He lowers his eyes again to his papers.

_Remove the dead plants from the gardens and consider the five plots of land._

Kaoru remembers back in the when, he had taken some gardening classes; personally, he likes being in control of life other than his own. Not only that, but the beauty of crisp green plants inspire him. So one should be called Inspiration, full with green vegetables! If it's successfully, maybe he should try eating the fruit of harvest… But, that's too much trouble to take care of… Maybe just stick to green plants, Kaoru.

Kaoru jumps off the bed, and slides into Hikaru's computer desk (since that's more updated -Kaoru himself doesn't bother going on the computer that often- and much more closer to the bed.) He only has to hit the keyboard and the computer boots up, very convenient. Kaoru types in things into the search box and clicks. He taps the mouse again, to show another webpage full of greenery. Ivy and vines…

Oh yes! He always wanted to plant grapes! Too much work again… But vines and ivy! One should be a writer's garden (but Kaoru only writes English poetry) and he can… well, put lighting to it. A airy sanctum, that refreshes the senses… And then, he can drink tea… Oh, the wonders…

Well, that's one down.

"Oh, you're going to add plants too? Should we put some in the house?"

-comes the annoying voice of his very (un)respectable elder brother. His eyes blanked and he turned to stare at the playful glint of his twin's. The misty air around him, and the taunting aroma of strawberries…

Wait. Strawberries…

"Hikaru, did you use my shampoo, _again_?!" Kaoru almost has half the mind to yell at him, but he doesn't.

Hikaru only chuckles, in an amused way, and points, "You should say that for yourself. Using _my_ computer, are we?"

Kaoru simply frowns and pushes his half-naked brother off of him, stomping off to his bed, and falling into the sheets flat on his face. Even into this age, Hikaru still has that indecency and openness to just wear a towel into their own room, not like Kaoru has any problems with it.

But, he thinks, he should have some maturity to at least wear a shirt and boxers to sleep.

Someone like Hikaru isn't that all reserved like himself, Kaoru painfully realizes.

As Kaoru relearns it for the fifth time that week. It's only Saturday.

The first question out of his mouth, as per usual, is always,

"_Where_ do you have your hands now, Hikaru?" Kaoru asks, almost menacing. But Hikaru doesn't know the glare he's sending him, because he's facing the opposite way, and mostly because the elder twin is still half-asleep.

"Kaoru, it's always around you," he mumbles, not even conscious of what he's saying.

Kaoru frowns, "We have things to do, Hikaru. Let go."

"Like what?" he murmurs, blinking open his bleary eyes as Kaoru sits up on his side of the bed. But he can't get off because Hikaru's being intimate and has his head on his lap now.

"Like remodeling the entire estate! We can't give ourselves a week break and leave the company to swim on it's own! There's so many home reports that I had Aya-san send us, and it's not really good," Kaoru sighs, and pushes his brother off of him (he's been doing that quite a lot). Hikaru pouts, and instantly shoots his gaze to the clock that has the weight of testifying for him.

"It's only seven, Kaoru! Plus, it's a weekend too!" he whines childishly, sticking his head to the light brown sheets. "I've already gotten all the rooms painted and the flooring done for each of the twenty-seven rooms in this house! We just need our room to be done and all the furniture to arrive, anyway!"

"Fine, you sleep; _I'm_ going to work."

"What?!" Hikaru erupts from the bed and trails Kaoru to the bathroom. "Let me help you!"

"Definitely not."

"Please!"

"No."

"Kaoru, pleaaaase," Hikaru begs, his hands placed together and he was on his knees, for the millionth time that day, and Hikaru's beginning to get on Kaoru's nerves. (But maybe that's his intention.)

This time, he receives no answer. Instead, Kaoru's ignoring him to the fullest, charting the sides of the walls, walking away from his twin. But, Hikaru doesn't like leaving it that way; he never did.

Well, if begging doesn't work. And then it hit him.

Kaoru had a hobby back in high school… _Gardening_. Hikaru remembers now; Kaoru pushed him into the architect club while _he_ joined gardening.

"Kaoru, lemme see," he plucks the papers out of his hands, resulting in Kaoru's fingering of air and a small vein popping up. Hikaru doesn't notice this change, "Kaoru, you're remodeling the five garden plots too?"

"Yes," he grits his teeth crossing his arms as Hikaru scans the papers.

He blinks, "Wow, talk about over-achiever."

"Is that a bad thing?" he retorts. Hikaru looks up.

"Nah," he says calmly, "You're just pushing too much on yourself. You haven't even gotten started on your beloved plants."

Hikaru waves a pencil in the air, and writes some things down on the pages. "Here, I'll help you with removing those twenty-century stones and ask people for the concrete stuff, while you choose what you want to do with these gardens, 'kay?" he punctuates it with a small smirk.

Kaoru's gaping mouth closed into a small sort of smile, "Alright."

And…

That's…

How…

Hikaru finally succeeds.

And that's _also_ how… he finds himself shouting at the servants again, and _still_ can't find any time to spend with his brother.

That's the only thing he wants. Why can't Kaoru see it?

It's times like these when Hikaru wonders why he's even pining away for attention from his brother. He means, it's been so long since becoming adults when they actually can begin to date, so he can actually just go out and possibly just take Aya-san out for coffee, or _something_, besides peeking from the patio at the twin who's calmly relaxing on a chair outside writing some things and typing more things into the laptop.

Just why is he so desperate?

They hadn't done anything together _since_ they graduated from college. No Hikaru and Kaoru quality time at all. Just random short ten minute things.

And those aren't enough!

'_Damn, damn, damn. These plots are too small… I can't do anything substantial with it…'_ Kaoru poked his cheek with the eraser edge of his pencil. _'If I put that there… wait, I'm only going to order four of those… and there's no way I'm starting from seeding… Aw, come on, they're out of stock?!'_ the younger twin sighs and leans back into his chair. There's no way he can go anywhere with the missing items.

And he's back to the drawing board… for the fifteenth time.

He types mechanically on his laptop; he's finished with four, and… the last… well.

"Hmm?" Kaoru looks up, noticing the sudden disappearance of his laptop. Suddenly he feels the impending presence of a certain twin by his side.

"Let's… do it together. Please?" the elder twin asks softly, treading on the words quietly, holding Kaoru's laptop under one arm. The two twins stare each other down a while.

Kaoru purses his lips into a frown, "Aren't you supposed to do the-"

"Finished."

"What about-"

"Done long ago," Hikaru reads his mind.

Kaoru is not in the least unnerved by this sudden acquisition of the ability to read his mind.

"And then the-"

"Having the servants fix it up," he reports concisely.

Kaoru rolls his eyes, "They're assistants. Not servants."

"Maids," he compromises.

"Well, then, go play," Kaoru massages his temple, the sunlight's getting to him.

Hikaru's the one who frowns now, "I'm not going to "go play" without you. Don't act like a mother hen, Kaoru."

"You don't want to go on that online site and "kill off everyone" again?" Kaoru raises a brow, but returns his eyes back down to his papers. Hikaru makes an annoyed noise, and sighs.

"Tch, _no_, it's only fun if you're around."

"Then-"

That snaps the last of Hikaru's patience.

"Kaoru," in an instant, Hikaru has his hand, rather, his fist crunching the front of Kaoru's shirt. Kaoru's eyes widen; this was one of the few times that Hikaru had ever resorted to violence to get his point across. Hikaru's voice deepens into a low growl, "Listen to me. When was the last time that we've ever spent some quality time _away _from the company and by _ourselves_?"

Kaoru only stares.

"Why are you trying to alone time _by yourself_? Why are you making me do something _alone_?" He's almost shouting this. His fist shakes; Kaoru doesn't know what to do. Hikaru's rightfully furious, "Kaoru, can't we just spend some time as brothers…?"

"Not as feigned lovers or cooperation heads… But you know… as brothers?" Hikaru really hopes he's not sounding as desperate as he seems.

Kaoru just _stares_. Not really thinking anything.

And then, there's silence.

If there was any awkward moments between the twins, it would be the above example. Where neither twins know how to reply or go on.

And somehow, _somehow_, it works out. Probably because of Kaoru's quote of "Hikaru first."

Kaoru nods, "If that's what you want…"

"Yeah," Hikaru confirms, not caring that he's pushing his wants on his brother again, "Together."

And then, Kaoru finds it amazingly easy sailing afterwards. Hikaru seems to know what search engine would work best, how to contact the seller and force more out of them (aka, haggling, which Kaoru doesn't really like doing) and his innate sense of placement. Coupled with Kaoru's more sensible reason (such as and not limited to, Hikaru's buying of fifty of each item) and styles of designs…

Well.

"Operation: renovate Hitachiin Mansion in one week, complete!" Hikaru waves his arms exaggeratedly in the air. Kaoru only sweat drops as the banners and multi-colored sprinkles fly around the mansion.

"We didn't make a plan out of that."

"_I_ did!" Hikaru puffs his chest out proudly.

Kaoru, now finally looking through the entire lobby, drops his jaw, "Hikaru… how can you do that in a week?"

"I had the servants take care half of it. Like, you know, I tell them to call people, and run around the mansion screaming stuff, you know, etc, etc."

The younger twin doesn't have time to collect himself as Hikaru's in his face again.

"I wanna see your gardens! I haven't seen them, yet!"

"Well, you know…"

The southern most one, the one right up in front of the mansion was sprinkled with lavender and a _western-styled_ garden, pebbled rocks adorning the trails.

"It's called _Melody_. If," Kaoru begins, pointing out towards the white arches flowered with vines, "-and when young ladies come, we can always dispose them here."

Hikaru just smiles, and drags his brother to the second plot of garden that he remembered to exist. In the small courtyard in the back.

"_Aoi_ obviously a Japanese _rock_ garden, Hikaru," Kaoru crosses his arms. "You don't need to tell me what it's about."

"There's another one here too, ne?"

"Koi pond; I just wanted a koi pond. We had one back home," Kaoru cut in. "I named it, _Memory Pool_."

Hikaru nods, understanding.

"Fourth?"

Suddenly, Kaoru sulks off into a corner, "Well, I put my own style at work since I ran out of styles that I know… And it sucks…"

"Sure, just keep telling yourself that-" Hikaru laughs, pushing open the metal gate. Just then, a wind of aromas assault his senses.

"Damn, Kaoru, this is-" he inhales, "Minty. Refreshing! Perfect!"

Kaoru just stalks in with half the enthusiasm that Hikaru has. "I'm pretty sure I screwed up on structure-"

"Are you kidding me!" Hikaru runs over onto a nearby white wooden swing, that falls down from a drooping branch. Bracing himself on the ropes, he jumps eagerly onto the white wood and propels himself happily.

In the background, Kaoru's still muttering about the imperfections. Hikaru tuned him out, until he heard, "I haven't even thought up of a good name for something weird like this."

"Ah! I know!" Hikaru hops off suddenly, sending the swing crashing into the bark, but that's not on Hikaru's mind right now. "Name it-"

"And then, there's the problem with the swing's proximity to the tree, 'causing immense damage to the bark-"

"_Kaoru_!"

"Yes?" he blinks. They stand in frozen animation, Kaoru waiting for Hikaru to say something.

"Kaoru," Hikaru pipes up cheerfully, "Name it, _Kaoru_."

"Isn't that being conceited?" Kaoru deadpans.

"No, no, it _matches!_ This garden is full of scents, wonderful ones!" the elder says energetically, "And they remind me of you!"

"Well… _kaoru_ does mean fragrant…" Kaoru thinks, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"_Kaoru_ and that's that!"

"Fine."

And… then? What about the last one?

"Last one? You've already seen it," Kaoru places his hands in his pockets and sighs. Hikaru's still looking at him like a eager puppy.

It's on the small hill, west of the estate, opposite _Kaoru_, the garden they both worked together on.

It's… in Kaoru's eyes, absolutely perfect. Blending of the lighting, and the fact that it's on the west only made sunsets all the more wonderful.

The warm red and orange colors… the beautiful wind…

"I love your gardens, Kaoru," Hikaru sighs blissfully, falling onto a bench near the side of the garden.

"Yeah, this one's great. It's nice," Kaoru's eyes lids, and he turns to smile smugly at his twin. "Like it?"

"Well," Hikaru sits up properly, staring almost seriously into his twin's eyes, a tint of playfulness, "Did you name it? I have a suggestion."

"What is it?"

"_Sunset_."

"Too boring," Kaoru deflects, taking a seat next to his brother. "Mine is better."

"We both had part in it, why can't I name it?" Hikaru frowns.

"I wanted… I wanted to name it," Kaoru says, almost distantly. Hikaru blinks, and balances his head with his hand.

"I wanted to name it _Hikaru_. It's not illegal, is it?" Kaoru adds, loving the look on Hikaru's face.

"Why are you naming it _radiant?_" Hikaru turns away from his brother, scoffing, but Kaoru isn't fazed.

"I'm not naming it because it's full of light. I wanted to name it after my wonderful brother who helped me make it," Kaoru amends, smiling. Hikaru softens, then looks down.

"Oh."

"Arigatou, Hikaru."

And that's where the fluff story ends. The one thing that brought them together again, that showed their inner feelings was that. Simply…

Garden.


	5. Valentine

Well. :D I felt compelled to include something romantic in this series... 'cause the twins are almost twenty-eight. D: I dun wanna leave them single for long.

I think Hikaru's too gullible. I ned to explain why Kaoru's being so overprotective...

Blah! Rated T for nothing! This is totally K stuff. I typed to fast to let Phil interfere. Oh, and this... foretells things to come. -shifty eyes-

* * *

It's Valentine's Week, Hikaru thinks his brother is frustrated.

He sees a lone figure, lounging on the office seat, letter opener in hand and shredding the light pink envelope. He leans back, reaches for another letter and scans his eyes over it. He sighs, shifting his legs, so that they're placed on the black table surface.

"Oi, Kaoru, you're at it again?" He knocks tentatively on the door, a cup in hand. "Why can't you just pick and choose?"

Kaoru turns a sharp eye at him, then lowers his gaze, "It's not as simple as that."

"Just give it a try. Give them a try," Hikaru simpers, really wanting to help his brother.

"Hikaru…" the younger Hitachiin closes his eyes, "You don't understand. It doesn't work that way. Not with me."

After all, he rejects all the girls that confess to him, and often in the rudest ways possible.

The truth is, Kaoru hates Valentine's Day.

"It's annoying; all these girls just suddenly pop up from out of nowhere and gives me chocolate, and stuff," Kaoru flings another half-wrapped box of sweets into the over-flowing trash bin. Hikaru looks, half-crying that his brother was throwing perfectly good chocolates into the trash.

But Kaoru doesn't care.

"I know, I know," Hikaru sighs heavily, running a hand through his hair, "But don't just _dump them in the trash_. Sheesh, it's just food; you don't have to act like it's poisoned."

Kaoru pauses, then continues to shred the shiny red paper off the box. A book on metaphors. His eyes narrow, slightly, "It might be," with this, he tosses it into the waste bin. Hikaru sweat drops; he was only being sarcastic.

It's not like he's over depressive about this, Hikaru finds himself thinking, tapping a pen to his chin. He scrutinizes his twin's facial features as he types, indifferent about the looming holiday ahead of him. Typing mechanically, hardly finding the reason to become distracted, even when their secretary arrives, a large box in her hands.

Hikaru lights up, sidling around his desk to help her with the load, flashing a small smile in the process. A small tint of a blush creeps onto her face: apparently, this is one of the first times they both hadn't insulted, teased, annoyed her to bits. Even if it's just one of them, it's nice to be appreciated.

Her brown eyes find their glance settling on the more serious twin, who still didn't move his head from the computer screen. Like he's purposefully ignoring her.

"Hitachiin-san, the delivery man said there's always an abnormal amount of packages this morning," she comments, as Hikaru sets the load onto the desk. He's used to it; Kaoru's not helping, so he sorts the mail alone.

Hikaru's eyes darken as he counts each pile again. He swears inwardly; Kaoru always gets less. Is that why he destroys all of them?

"Hitachiin-san? Is there a problem?" she cocks her head in confusion to the twins' silence.

"No, no; get the paperwork done for tonight. I think, I'll be leaving earlier today," Hikaru's gaze has already drifted to his twin, "Right, Kaoru?"

(Hikaru didn't say _we_. Yes, there is a problem.)

Instantly, his hands freeze in mid-type. He sets his hands on the desks, and pushes his chair away from the desk, amber eyes darting to examine the elder twin's face; Aya suddenly feels like she's intruding on something.

"With whom?"

"A Mariko-chan," Hikaru pipes up, waving a finger playfully in the air, "Lineage is A class, attractiveness a-okay; her intelligence is a top class, and her business specializes in art and painting exchanges. Second heir, elder brother inheriting the business. It's said she's supposed to be a very calm person, Kaoru."

Kaoru's back to typing again, as if his brother hadn't said anything.

Hikaru's smirk softens, "Right," he glance, almost seductively at Aya, "-you didn't believe that we would ignore girls on the most important day of their life…?" he had leant forward, and now twirls a strand of straight brown hair.

At this, Aya blushes a dark shade of pink, "Hitachiin-san?"

Hikaru's brows furrow imperceptibly, "Right, I shouldn't disturb you from your work."

Instantly, she retreats back out the door, leaving an awkward silence between the twins. That's their difference.

In the week before Valentine's Day, both twins feel completely differently. On one hand, Hikaru reverts back to his host club charming ways, and acts extraordinarily nice to them; after all, it's their day, he believes. On the other, Kaoru develops a complete disregard for any girl who comes; girls are simply woman, men does not need to pay them attention on hand and knee.

"Aya's not your type," Kaoru says, not moving his gaze.

"Mmm, I know," Hikaru replies, placing both hands at his hips, pursing his lips into a pout, "I don't even know if she even has a boyfriend yet."

"Or married," he inserts.

Hikaru turns to look at his twin, a frown on his face, "But I'm giving Mariko-san a try. She's been emailing me for who knows how long."

"Right."

"Kaoru…"

"What?" Kaoru turns a rotten glare at him. Like he doesn't like where this conversation is going.

Hikaru fumbles with his hands, nervous, "You can't promise not to interfere, right?" he lets out a hollow laugh.

Kaoru blinks once, then turns back to his computer.

"Nope."

It's happened for so many times, Hikaru doesn't believe he'll ever find someone for him. But his _feelings_ are so _jumbled_ around girls. His host club charms get in the way. He doesn't know whether he actually tell whether he's impressing a girl or loving her.

Mariko-san… is just one of the many young ladies he had gone out with, impressed with his achievements and gentlemanly manners. And will dump him. Sooner or later.

He's absolutely certain that Mariko will do that to him to.

"Mariko-chan, glad you could make it," he greets, smiling serenely at the black-haired woman before him. She's shaking. With enthusiasm or excitement by going out with one of the Hitachiin twins. Hikaru guides her into the restaurant, a five-star Japanese cuisine.

"So I've heard that you like Japanese culture," he starts, sitting opposite of her, "This restaurant specializes in most of the cultural goodies of Japan. It's one of my favorite places to eat."

Hikaru's sincere, but he doesn't know if she lies.

"Mine too," she nods, deciding to open up the menu. She's furrowing her brows (in deep concentration?)

Hikaru only shifts open the elegant menu and scans it for one of his favorite dishes.

After calling the waitress to take down their orders, Hikaru starts another conversation.

"I heard you majored in art," he props up his head with his hands, still looking at her, honestly. "I did too."

"That's to be assumed," she replies, "After all, you are one of the Hitachiin fashion designers. Your designs are beautiful… Although, I don't really know what to say about Neapolitan…"

He laughs, "Ah, that was an inside joke. We didn't mean to make people look like idiots wearing strawberry pins around the place."

She giggles, almost realistically.

Hikaru can't tell yet. And that's his problem. Outside of Kaoru, he can't tell whether they are sincere.

"Hikaru."

He blinks, as he walks through the office door. Unsurprisingly, Kaoru's still there, but now on Hikaru's computer, typing something.

"You didn't hack onto my computer again, did you?"

"Mmm?" Kaoru smiles, amused, "Didn't have to. You didn't protect it with a password."

"Blah, I knew I forgot something," he sighs, placing his coat on the rack nearby, and flopping onto Kaoru's side of the desk. "What were you doing?" he leans over to see the computer screen, but the windows that Kaoru had open are now closed.

"Nothing," Kaoru waves absently, "How was your date?"

"Went fine."

"That's what you always say," the younger looks, carefree, at his twin.

Hikaru doesn't say anything else and just begins to do his paperwork. Kaoru cups his cheek, staring intently at his twin, thinking, his arm propped on the table.

His twin doesn't know this, but Kaoru saw. He knows what happened. He knows how she forced a smile, tried to hide her displeasure at the foods, and generally lied to get on his good side. Kaoru looks back at the computer, sighing.

Hikaru has to be so damn optimistic that he doesn't realize when people are tricking him. The younger twin clicks a link on the computer, and logs onto Hikaru's email account.

_Mariko-chan! I thoroughly enjoyed today's lunch, so if you don't mind, can we go out for lunch tomorrow too? I'll meet you in front of the French restaurant down the street at twelve, okay?_

_Luffs! Hikaru._

He studied how Hikaru signed his emails, his voice, his sentence pattern… Kaoru's not Hikaru's twin for nothing.

His pinky taps enter, and off the email is sent.

"Ara, Kaoru, what are you doing?" Kaoru promptly deleted that sent message that remained in the inventory; no need for Hikaru to be seeing this.

"Nothing."

That's why Kaoru's there. To _judge_.

"Are you going out, Kaoru?"

"Yep," Kaoru nonchalantly walks towards the door. Hikaru munches on a piece of pocky that Kaoru had bought to distract him, "I need some air, plus Aya-san said I needed to go and pick up something from Kyoto."

The door slams before Hikaru can question _why_ Aya would _ask_ Kaoru to _pick up something from Kyoto_.

It's not long before he arrives in front of said French restaurant and looks about for said Mariko-san who was with Hikaru yesterday.

He spots the girl, nervous, and wondering. Probably nervous in a good way.

Well, he'll have to see about that.

"Mariko-chan! How are you today?" he asks, energetically, bounding up to her.

"I'm fine."

"I checked out this French restaurant, it's very good they say," he flashes a cheeky smile her way. She blinks.

"R-Really?" she stutters, like this was unexpected.

He sighs exaggeratedly, "Well, this is one of the closest restaurant there is; my office work takes up a ton of my time. It's so _boring,_" he waves a hand dismissively dragging her to through the door.

"Eh, right," she nods, sitting down daintily.

"Not to mention, this place has very good French cuisines," he smiles, flipping through the menu, "There's a vegetarian menu, Mariko-chan. Wow, there's desserts in the back too!"

"Ah, hai," she nods and flips her menu to the same page, and wrinkled her nose.

Unbeknownst to her, Kaoru watches her sharply.

"Japanese food has lots of seafood; I wonder how people who has seafood allergies survive here?" he leans back in his seat, relaxed.

"Well, there's the fried foods," she comments, half-heartedly.

"But it also has meat!" he rubs his head, like he was irritated, "What about those people who are solely vegetarians?"

She pauses, "Are you a vegetarian, Hikaru-san?"

Trapped. Kaoru smiles evilly.

"Wait, you were eating…" she blinks, "Why do you care so much about cultural foods anyway? I thought you liked Japanese foods!"

"Actually, we have specific preferences for Japanese delicacies. Western foods appeal to us the same way," he laughs. In a carefree way. "I could be asking you the same things. I thought you fancied Japanese cuisine."

"What?"

"No need to hide it. _Why_ did order a western styled salad in a Japanese restaurant? _Why_ did you avoid the offer to sushi? _Why_ did you lie?" Each sentence was a barbed insult, and he smirks at her horrified face.

_You. Are. Found_._ Out_.

"And Neapolitan?" he's half-standing, his palms grinding into the table. "That fashion line was based on sweets, the _ice cream flavor_ Neapolitan, vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate. But you don't like _sweets_. And you pretended to _like _the insult. Didn't you?"

He glares at her menacingly, "You _took advantage of _it. The lack of full-blown conversation. You made me believe… that I had a chance. But that's not all of it."

She looks very small right now, trying and failing to ignore the stares from around the restaurant.

"The worst of it all is… You… can't even tell my brother and I apart."

"But, I've never even met Kaoru-san before!" she shrills, wringing her hands for an explanations.

Kaoru only smiles, widely, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "You are now."

"Wait, wha-" she blinks, "Kao-Kaoru-san?"

He stands up from the table, and brushes his hands off. "Hikaru's too damn optimistic, too damn gullible. _There would always be someone just right for the both of us, _he says, _You're just not looking hard enough_," he air-quotes, pushing the chair in and stalking off. "That baka…"

The first sight he sees once he exits the restaurant is a mirror. Rather, his mirror image.

The first time he saw his face, it almost devastated him. A hopeless, pleading look. Hikaru hadn't wanted him to interfere then; he stated it loud and clear. But now…

Hikaru's voice isn't even angry.

"Kaoru, you- she-"

"Mariko-san is not your type," he says, indifferently, brushing his brother off.

"I know… But… Is everything you said, true?" Hikaru places a hand on his twin's shoulder, walking in his pace.

"Yes, you didn't notice. You pretended not to notice. Hikaru-" he turns around and faces his brother, abruptly, "-there are people who's going to trick you in believing that they are whom you're looking for. Don't believe them."

Hikaru blinks, "Is that why-?"

He ignores him and turns around, continuing his pace, "A lot of people know our likes and dislikes, Hikaru. We don't know theirs. They can act, pretend to be who you want, and you're stupid enough to fall for their tricks," Kaoru's eyes narrow. "They know we're desperate. After all, we're almost twenty-eight."

"But, Kaoru-"

"Yes, I _know_, we should be married and have kids, but why aren't we?" Kaoru's words dance along his lips like toxins. He tears his brother's hand off his shoulder, and looks deeply into the other's eyes, a finger tracing along his jaw line, "Because we play hard to get. And when we play, _they_ cheat."

Hikaru fingers the hand on his face, his twin pausing in his motion, "But, Kaoru, is that why you throw everything away? Why you'd rather hurt them before they hurt us?"

"Cheh," Kaoru snaps back around and stomps away back towards their building.

Hikaru realizes, Kaoru still doesn't trust a lot of people. No one. It's sad, that Kaoru's shutting himself out of the world, he doesn't want to "get into a relationship with a purpose." Well, that's to be true. How many girlfriends that Hikaru have already gone out with, more than one two dates, more than a month? Sooner or later, they would get fed up with the twins' antics-

"When I chose Hikaru, I didn't choose the both of you!"

-but it's not the both of us, he thinks.

It was just Hikaru. Trying to be himself.

If Hikaru isn't the one who searches desperately, there will be no way Kaoru would convince himself that all the girls who sends him presents aren't lying. But then again, there's no way. Even his twin doesn't know what Kaoru wants.

That's why, he can only watch as Kaoru throw yet another box into the trash. He picks up another one.

And he _pauses_.

"Kaoru?" Hikaru lifts his head off the desk, where he had been watching his brother (who was sitting on the desktop) rip up boxes. Was, had been. What made him stop? "What's up?"

"Hikaru. Is it abnormal for chocolate manufacturers to give out mints as samples?"

Hikaru blinks in confusion, "What?"

The younger winks an eye closed and examines the small neatly unwrapped box. Even when he about to throw them away, he still treats them with tender care. Why? Hikaru finds himself wondering.

"Hayashi Confectionary. They-" he bites his bottom lip; Hikaru wonders at this action, "-They sent me mints."

"Doesn't that company make chocolate?"

Kaoru sweat drops. "I said that already."

"Why's it different?" Hikaru yawns, and props up his head on his arm.

"Nothing," Kaoru places the box to the side, and takes another package out. This one he throws away.

It takes a while for Hikaru to understand. He tenderly picks up the mint box, and scans his amber eyes over it. Kaoru stares at him, stopping in his "throwing out chocolates" moment.

_Mint. A refreshing, a burning, yet calming feeling. And it soothes. I think, it's like love._

"Ah. Souka," Hikaru smiles wickedly at his twin. In the slight darkness of the room, Hikaru could make out a small tint of pink settling on his twin's face. "So you finally found another idiot like yourself?"

The younger Hitachiin doesn't look at him, but Hikaru understands.

Kaoru finally has a Valentine.


End file.
